Tokita (School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash U., Australia) and Hughes (ethnomusicology, School of Oriental and African Studies, U. of London, UK) present a collection of 16
essays intended to serve as a comprehensive survey of the current scholarly knowledge concerning the history and contemporary status of musical culture in Japan. The contributors have been
given free rein to focus on those topics they deem most important, typically things such as instrumental ensemble, performance conventions, notation, musical structure, phrasing, and the like,
but also discussing things such as ritual meaning, societal transmission, and similar topics. The chapters cover court and religious music, the musical narration of The Tale of the Heike (a
famous epic narrative from approximately the 13th century), the Kyushu biwa traditions, music from the medieval theater, the shakuhachi and its music, Edo-period chamber music, music of the
bunraku puppet theater, music in kabuki theater, popular music before the Meiji period, folk music, the music of Ryukyu, the music of the Ainu, modern popular music, and western-influenced
"classical" music in Japan. Annotation 穢2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
